Just finished Marilynne Robinson's "Home" over the weekend. A beautiful book...which is much different than the kind of book I usually read.

I really enjoyed it and got to like the characters a lot so this morning I went to my local independent bookstore and bought Robinson's earlier companion book..."Gilead". Looking forward to getting involved in Gilead.

I enjoyed Gilead. Her phrasing and style make me want to read something else by her.

I already mentioned Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. Now that I've finished it, I just HAVE to give a brief book report; it was that good.

Moving, utterly moving. It, as a novel, read like a very accurate depiction of the atrocity that is war, and specifically the Vietnam experience. Characters I grew to love. Heroics and "un-heroics" (if you will) which helped me to understand and appreciate what these soldiers went through. I can't praise it highly enough. If you can withstand reading about violence, then it is a powerful read.

On the Road, Jack Kerouac. I got the audio version of it for the car. Seems like everyone from my generation has read it, so I thought I'd belatedly join the club.

In print I'm reading Peace Breaks Out by John Knowles. And Effortless Mastery came in to the library today, so I picked that up. I usually like having a fiction and a non-fiction going at the same time. Enough people here and on AGF have recommended Effortless Mastery to make me give it a try.

I want to read that at some point. Last year my family and I took a long vacation (in and RV!) up through New England. I like to read travel stuff as I travel, so I was going through William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways along the way. It was fun but I never finished the book.

By the way, I've found audio books to be most helpful. It took me a long time, but now I can get just as lost in them as I can paper. With a bit of training (necessity being the mother here) I've learned to multi-task and enjoy a book. I think anyone can learn to do this if they try.

On the Road, Jack Kerouac. I got the audio version of it for the car. Seems like everyone from my generation has read it, so I thought I'd belatedly join the club.

In print I'm reading Peace Breaks Out by John Knowles. And Effortless Mastery came in to the library today, so I picked that up. I usually like having a fiction and a non-fiction going at the same time. Enough people here and on AGF have recommended Effortless Mastery to make me give it a try.

RylerIf you're going to do Kerouac you might as well do 'em all. Start with On The Road and move on to Dharma Bums, Desolation Angels, Big Sur, The Subterraneans. All written in the same frenetic, amphetemine-induced steam of consciousness style. I've hung out at many of the places he mentions in his books; Vesuvio's and City Lights Bookstore in S.F. etc. It added to the experience for me.

RylerIf you're going to do Kerouac you might as well do 'em all. Start with On The Road and move on to Dharma Bums, Desolation Angels, Big Sur, The Subterraneans. All written in the same frenetic, amphetemine-induced steam of consciousness style. I've hung out at many of the places he mentions in his books; Vesuvio's and City Lights Bookstore in S.F. etc. It added to the experience for me.

I'm currentely reading 'Freedom' by Jonathan Franzen

I bet it did add to the experience. Did you pop a few amphetimines to share a mind with ol' Jack? Of all his subsequent books, which did you like the best? I got half way through Freedom and set it aside for some reason. It's still up there waiting to be finished. I'll keep an eye out for your review to see if I should.

rylerNo, my days of popping amphetmines are way behind me, thankfully. Many of the places outside of the S.F, bay area were very familiar to me as well; some of the places he hopped freight cars and the labor camp where he had a brief affiair with a Mexican farm worker girl were literally in my back yard. If you like On the Road then I'd suggest Dharma Bums as a good 2nd read.

I'm only about 1/3 of the way through Freedom and I fully expect to finish it soon. I put down 100 years of Solitude about half way through so I could read Freedom. I suppose I'll get back to it when I'm done. But, truthfully, it's a real chore to get through "solitude'

I found that to be true about Solitude, too, and never returned to it. I do plan to return to Patty Berglund at some point. I got derailed in the section set in Washington. Thanks for the recommendation on Kerouac's stuff.